Lakers coach Byron Scott has a tough job. He must guide a young team that doesn’t win much, and for someone who tasted championship success three times during his playing days in purple and gold, that can’t be easy.

Scott has had to take two of his best young players — guard D’Angelo Russell and forward Julius Randle — out of the starting lineup, much to their chagrin.

Scott also must choreograph Kobe Bryant’s final season, which includes a goodbye tour that touches every city the Lakers visit.

With all that, Scott had to pit his Lakers against the defending champion Golden State Warriors sans Bryant (sore right shoulder) and Russell (sore throat) on Tuesday at Staples Center.

How does he keep his sanity?

“Very positive, patient man,” Scott said before his team was walloped 109-88 by the Warriors, who are now 33-2, before 18,997. “That’s all I can tell you. I’m very patient. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know the game plan; I’m not deviating from that. And my job right now is to keep working these young guys and veteran guys that we have and keep them on the right track, keep them getting better and also just taking baby steps, if need be.

“But I still go home … pissed off a lot, not happy. I wake up the next day and think about the future and get excited again.”

The Warriors led 37-25 after one quarter, 62-47 at halftime and 92-60 after three quarters.

The Lakers (8-28), who had won three consecutive games — at Boston and against Philadelphia and Phoenix, got a team-high 23 points from Jordan Clarkson on 8-of-20 shooting. Lou Williams scored 10 points, all on free throws, as he was 0 of 7 from the field. Larry Nance Jr. scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds.

The Lakers shot just 31.9 percent from the field. Randle shot 1 of 8, Nick Young 0 of 6 and Metta World Peace 2 of 10.

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 36 points after he scored 22 in the first quarter. Steph Curry, who recently missed two games with a bruised shin, added 17. He came up limping after a driving layup in the third quarter, stayed in the game and then went to the locker room with just seconds left in the quarter.

Bryant’s injury is scary because it’s the same shoulder in which he tore his rotator cuff while dunking a year ago this month in New Orleans. Scott was asked if he is becoming more concerned because this was the third consecutive game Bryant missed.

“Not really,” he said. “Again, I keep saying it feels better, so that’s a good sign. It’s continuing to get better. It’s taking a little longer than he thought, I guess.”

Scott said Bryant is understandably being “cautious” with his shoulder.

“And he should be,” Scott said. “We want that thing to get well because right now they way it looks, if he plays, a couple of days later it’s starting to get sore again.

“We want to see if we can get all that out of there and go from there.”

Scott would not rule out Bryant playing Thursday at Sacramento, but said he probably wouldn’t know until day of the game.

As for Russell, Scott said he expects the rookie guard to play at Sacramento.

The Lakers were in this game for a spell. They were within 13 points (62-49) early in the third. But when Thompson made a 3-pointer with 2:30 to play in the quarter, just like that, the Lakers trailed by 33 (88-55).

Their poor shooting was of no help.

“Not enough ball movement,” Scott said of his team’s shooting woes. “Guys got stuck holding the ball, too many dribbles. I thought the third quarter, where they really kind of ran away, that’s where we got a little stubborn and tried to do it on our own, tried to get it all back and we can’t do that. That’s just not us.”

Nance chimed in.

“We got good shots, we got the shots we wanted,” he said. “It was just one of those nights.”

Nance was kind of funny when talking about Thompson, who shot 12 of 22 from the field, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range.

“It was a combination of Klay Thompson … and Klay Thompson,” he said.

Golden State interim coach Luke Walton liked Thompson’s work.

“Klay’s really good at basketball,” he said. “Being from L.A., I think he loves playing here. Whether it’s preseason, regular season, he likes this building.”

Anthony Brown, who started for Bryant, praised Thompson.

“He moves so well without the ball,” said Brown, who at times tried to defend Thompson. “A lot of guys in this league need the ball to score and have to dominate the ball. But he doesn’t need the ball to score. He just moves without it, and once he gets the ball, within a second that can be three points.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.